Can a targeted intervention programme promote change in the educational
aspirations, attitudes and beliefs of a group of underachieving white British
disadvantaged girls?
The gaps in academic standards between students receiving free school meals and
their peers is significant. By the end of secondary school, the most disadvantaged
students are on average two years of learning behind their better-off peers. Among
girls, the difference is even more stark. These students often demonstrate weaker
character/essential life skills such as a general lack of motivation, resilience and
determination and have low attendance. The research centres on closing the
attainment gaps for disadvantaged girls. The purpose is to investigate whether an
intervention programme based upon research in the field of resilience could affect
positive change in female students in order to impact upon their levels of
achievement as well as their possible future aspirations, their resilience factors and
retention at Sixth Form or College post Year 11. The thesis looks at the intrinsic factors
that impact upon female students, such as values, motivations, aspirations and
resilience, as well as extrinsic factors such as exam results, school, community and
family. The research uses the Child and Youth Resilience Measure - 28 (CYRM28) and
qualitative interviews to measure students’ resilience levels and attitudes to school,
achieving and aspiration before and after an intervention programme. The
intervention programme focuses on developing qualities and the protective factors
that contribute to resilience such as developing problem solving skills, having at least
one supportive adult they can turn to within school, helping students to formulate
plans for the future and supporting others through volunteering and developing selfsoothing techniques. The findings from this research suggest that academic
resilience does impact both positively and negatively upon academic
achievement, attitudes to learning and as a result future life chances and
aspirations. They also show that resilience is complex and can be developed given
the right conditions but is also something that can decrease depending on situations,
experiences and interactions which happen both in and out of school. It opens up
possibilities for future research such as how schools could consider developing
strategies to build resilience and develop students’ sense of identity and feelings of
self-worth for a particular demographic who do not necessarily identify with a culture
or belief system